you stole my breath with their lives
by Pandastacia
Summary: AU:/ A healer fascinated by a trained killer; he stares back.
1. breath

**Dedication:** To the shadows that stay in the dark. You know who you are.  
**Disclaimer:** I do not own anything copyrighted or recognizable as someone else's.  
**A-side Tracks:** Written while listening to "Fast Car" by Tracy Chapman; just because that fits my mood. Not really an influence over the story; just felt like writing SasuSaku and that happened to be playing. Also going to update Antebellum before I graduate (May 2014, guys, too soon too soon), I _swear_.  
**One-Shot; maybe series of drabbles?**

* * *

She forgot to breathe once.

Just once.

It wasn't like the movies – what's the word, romantic? She saw blood – not his – dripping from the knife – his – as the bus she was on idled by an alley, waiting for the light to change. It was a cold day that pained her fingertips before kissing them numb. Inside the bus, it was warm. Few people had decided to venture outside, but those that were on the bus sat with their back against that same window.

None of them saw the look on his face, just the way she shivered. A woman asked if she needed to borrow her scarf and Sakura just shook her head. Her hair had fallen out of its ponytail holder somewhere along the way. But his eyes, oh, his dark eyes – they were dead. Their glance bypassed her as he raised his weapon again.

There were three of them and only one of him, but by the time she'd wiped away the condensation, two of them were sprawled against the dumpsters, slowly making for the ground. The last tried to run away.

He failed.

Her veins and arteries felt stiff, and her heart was frozen inside the icebox in her chest, beating ignorantly just as she watched and said nothing.

Why was everyone else looking away?

At that moment, a girl rushing outside happened to glance inside the dark strip of street. Her scream was audible from inside the bus and everyone swung around. She ran even faster in the direction she was going, barreling forward as if she was afraid to stay.

Sakura… wasn't afraid. She was caught up in –

"_Call the hospital!"_

"_The fuckin' good that'd do – they ain't sewing those heads back on. Just call for an emergency."_

Everyone was animated and had their phones out, but Sakura stared outside, trying to see him even as the bus driver locked the vehicle down.

He was slinking into another alley, eyes casting around for any witnesses. He caught her this time.

There was no smile on his face, but he held a finger up, held it to his lips with his head tilted like a bird's. His dark hair blew back in the hard wind, leaving a face with a straight nose and thin mouth that seemed stern for a man about her age.

Then he was gone.

Just as when he'd first shown up, no one noticed him disappear but her.

Sakura slowly turned around and leaned against the window. She didn't consider what to do – even though she was one of the best surgeons in the city, she wasn't an angel. She was human, limited by thread and the body's will and ability to perform.

No, she felt like a protagonist in one of her favorite books, filled with a desperate and morbid curiosity.

Who was he?

Her mind supplied the answer: Death.

And she breathed again.

* * *

**B-side Tracks:** Yes, Sasuke is real. This isn't a la _City of Bones_ or anything. Sometimes, people are just so fixated on their lives they miss things.


	2. eyes

**Dedication:** To the night.  
**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto.  
**A-Side Tracks:** Written to "Dark Horse (Acoustic Cover)" by megandavies711. There's something of a plot here now.

* * *

"Sorry I'm late," Sakura said as she slid into the booth with her breakfast. "There was an incident on the bus over."

Itachi folded up his newspaper and set it next to his bowl of rice. His gaze was soft despite its focus. "An incident?"

The hospital cafeteria was empty except for the bored girl stationed at the cash register. Occasionally, there would be the clink of loose change as she attempted to roll a penny around her knuckles.

Sakura hummed as she poured milk over her cereal. "Three men were killed in plain view of the bus."

He frowned, the lines beneath his eyes deepening. "That's terrible. Did you…?"

"Yeah, I saw." She stirred her cereal absentmindedly. "Had to give a witness statement and everything. No one else could recall the man who did it?"

Itachi raised his eyebrows. "Man?"

Nodding, Sakura ate some of her cereal. "It was… unbelievable. I mean, I couldn't explain exactly what happened. He was so… proficient. Watching him was kind of like watching you work over the operating table."

He snorted before sipping his tea. Itachi wrinkled his nose. "It's cold."

"Sucks." She sipped at her hot coffee.

"Mmm. Well, I hope that my cutting skills aren't _too_ reminiscent of a murderer. Not sure that's a compliment."

Sakura rolled her eyes. "You know what I mean – it's the… way you are in-tune with the blade. You slide it through people to get to their problem. He… used his to end their problematic nature, presumably. Too clinical for rage." She paused. "You know, I'm not sure I'd call him a murderer."

Itachi waited, looking at her expectantly.

"He _did_ kill three people, but he was… utterly removed from the situation." Tapping the plastic spoon against the bottom of the Styrofoam bowl, Sakura thought back to the event carefully. His eyes caught on her, their closed nature more than a strange familiarity. "He'd done it before – killed, I mean, and has done it many times."

She wasn't quite sure how she knew – how she could've read facts across colored cells and rods and cones – but the statement felt true where it laid deep in her stomach. The thought was disconcerting. Ever since she'd been little with her safety kit of plastic bandages and fake thermometer, Sakura had seen herself as a healer.

Looking up, she could see a shadow that was in Itachi's eyes. Despite what most people thought, Itachi's default facial expression was not a frown but simple indifference. Now, though, his mouth was curled distinctly downwards.

Itachi finished his tea and Sakura her cereal before they left for the surgery wing of the hospital. His office was the third in the corridor. Standing in his doorway, Sakura scanned the familiar room. It was, like him, rather bare of anything extraneous, though there were two photographs on his desk. A picture of him and Temari at the year's hospital benefit gala was on the right side of his desk. She had her arms snaked around his neck while he gripped her waist with an arm.

The second was older. Itachi was perhaps ten years old, standing next to a seated woman that looked very much like him. Different eyes, though, Sakura observed.

"Her eyes," she said, stepping closer and peering intently at the photograph.

Itachi looked up from a patient file. "Hm?"

"Her eyes – they're like the man in the alley." She bent down and brushed a finger against the glass covering, intent on the bold gaze.

It was quiet for a moment. Sakura noted the absence of a wedding band on the woman's hand. Obviously, she was Itachi's mother. He spoke little of his father, but from what she'd picked up, they'd married…

"How peculiar," Itachi said as he busied himself with the file again.

"Peculiar," Sakura echoed. "Peculiar indeed."

She wasn't sure what was stranger – the alley man's eyes or the sudden pain in Itachi's.

* * *

**B-side Tracks:** Wow, thanks for the response for the first chapter/drabble! I know, no Sasuke, but he shall return.


	3. wrist

**Dedication**: To the freedom from the absolute limit of giving-a-shit.  
**Disclaimer**: I do not own Naruto.  
**A-Side Tracks**: Wow, uh, thanks, guys. Your support means a lot. It really does. Sorry it's taken a while to return; I fell behind on my thesis (and two computer programs) between the last update and this one. But now I'm just only sort of behind! So time for an update!

* * *

Sakura hummed as she trooped up the stairs to her wing, notes stringing themselves onto the lyrical cord that came before them in a haphazard order. It was some song in her head – her "working song", as she said when asked, carefully smoothing a bandage over her doll's nose. Snow White had hers, sweeping and scrubbing the mysterious cabin with her animal friends, and the dwarves had theirs as they beggared the mine of jewels, so why shouldn't a doctor? Her step-mother had only chuckled before leaving for the hospital.

She kept her gaze on the patient file laid out across her forearms. Temari complained that it was Sakura's fault they always bumped into each other when Temari came to visit. Of course, Sakura always retaliated, saying the blonde would have less accidents with everyone if she didn't insist on walking, texting, and fanning herself at the same time.

"But it's so _hot_ in here all the time, I really don't know how you guys _deal_, with those silly coats," Temari would complain, "Besides, it doesn't take that much focus to use a hand fan. You should try it."

Continuing on her way, Sakura tallied the injuries that one Uzumaki Naruto had racked up to end up in the hospital the night before. She'd only been working in Konoha Hospital for the past two years after graduating med school, but according to Itachi, the kid had been a regular patient beginning the year before she'd arrived. Somehow, he got into scrapes at least once a month and land himself in her pediatric wing, but he always managed to stop just short of death. Rumors were that he was involved in one of the families on the outskirts of the West Side of Konoha but had a hard time impressing them.

Sakura frowned as she walked into his room. "Naruto, who have you pissed off this time? I know you can miraculously afford your hospital bills, but this doesn't look good."

"Aw, you're worried about me, Sakura-chan. Does this mean you'll let me kiss you this time?" He had a large smile on his face, but despite the two black eyes, it was obvious that his lips was as far as that grin was going. His glance shifted towards the side of his bed between him and the window.

"Don't bet on it." She rolled her eyes. Even though he was over ten years her junior, Naruto constantly flirted with her. Itachi thought it was hilarious until the boy had tried to make a move. The OB/GYN could be such a big brother, sometimes. She snorted at the thought. As if Sakura needed help defending herself from teenage boys who fancied themselves in love. She'd been through the undergrad experience. Love was a disease there, easily afflicted and difficult to heal. "I could take you right now, you know, especially considering," she said, checking his charts, "two sprained wrists, a bruised lung, your entire abdomen as basically one contusion, handprints around your neck, and the dislocated shoulder."

"Yeah, well," he said. Naruto paused, shuffling deeper into his pillow. "Well, you should see the other guy."

"Uh huh." Looking up from her note-taking, Sakura sighed as she caught him glancing towards the window. "I do have eyes, Uzumaki-kun, and I see what you're doing. If you even think about going for the window, I'll tell Tsunade-shishou on you and good luck with children's services."

"Doctor-patient confidentiality," Naruto said quickly. "Plus, this new place is good – the guy really cares, isn't just about the money. I just have… some things to sort out."

"Yeah, well, I know you're young, but you can't come back from everything. No magical healing powers, just your body doing its best. You might just want to go easy on it." Sakura held out her hand. "Now, time to see how you've been doing since you were admitted."

Naruto had been a bit much more difficult than usual, insisting that she stand between him and the window. He'd been strangely adamant about it. Even though he was more flirtatious than she was comfortable with, Naruto was… sweet. Thoughtful, at least. He knew that he put the hospital staff through a lot – a lot more than most guys his age. Most fifteen year olds came in with a broken arm from trying to impress their crushes on a skateboard, not enough bruises that it was surprising they hadn't hemorrhaged to their death. He didn't refuse to take tests simply because she wasn't standing close enough that he could smell the antiseptic stench that clung to her.

Sakura frowned as she strode down the hall, worrying the loose gold watch that hung on her left wrist.

Except it wasn't there.

Stopping to stare at the place where it should be, Sakura fought the urge to curse. It'd been a graduation gift for completing her residency, the long chain reduced from a man's fit to the smaller circumference. She'd noticed Naruto staring at it before and had warned him that pinching it would get a harder punishment than stealing her rings. She took those off before procedures, but the watch? Sakura never took that off. Never.

She stomped down the hall, so ready to lay the gauntlet as she passed through the doorway that she was unaware of the muffled tumbling sounds coming from the room. "Uzumaki-_san_ –."

Sakura froze at the sight of the two figures wrestling in the hospital bed, mildly tangled up in some of the oxygen hoses. Naruto in pain looked fierce yet terrified at her reappearance, but that didn't register with Sakura. Her observation of how her watch was strung across the stranger's throat and his hand around the knife she recognized as the one from yesterday morning's proceeding was just as absently collected and filed away. She remembered the three heads in the alley, but their deaths were just as distant.

Nothing fixated her as much as the deep blank eyes that nearly looked through her, as if the mind running behind them were already methodically planning on how to reach her anatomy.

"Hello, again."

* * *

**B-Side Tracks**: Thanks go to Rhea for reading this over for me. Her and les for talking and listening to me go, "Okay, so I have this idea." Caitlin for being my chatterbox for all things lovely. Loves and doves, guys – all for you.

+: I told y'all Sasuke'd be back. Surprise! I know, not a lot, but two words!


End file.
